Sam Cooper, Chair Maker

Winner of the 2020 Heritage Crafts/ Marsh Trainee Award

The inaugural Heritage Crafts/Marsh Trainee of the Year Award went jointly to Sam Cooper and Richard Platt, chairmaking apprentices to Lawrence Neal at Marchmont House in Berwickshire.

Sam and Richard are currently in the process of opening a rush seated chair workshop, the first of its kind since 1958.

They use skills and techniques passed down from Phillip Clissett, Ernest Gimson, Edward Gardiner and Neville Neal. Without them taking up the craft, with support from Hugo Burge at Marchmont, one of Britain’s proudest craft traditions would have been lost.